OWEN JONES, who mainly works for The Guardian, is an excellent and influential writer, but we feel duty-bound to comment on an article he wrote just before Christmas. Plenty of people are saying at the moment that Britain’s household debt is getting out of control. The Bank of England released new figures yesterday, showing that mortgage and credit-card lending is growing rapidly. Mr Jones weighed in to argue that the “latest figures confirm Britain’s supposed economic recovery rests on a personal debt timebomb. When it runs out is unclear, but run out it will.”
It proved to be a popular article, but it’s necessary to point out some serious misunderstandings.